HARRISON, N.J. — The Utah Royals did something on Saturday they had yet to achieve since returning to the NWSL last season: earn two clean sheets in a row.
It wasn’t a win, which Utah still has just one this season, but it’s about as close as you can get for the league’s last-place team, especially considering Saturday’s shutout came on the road.
The Royals withstood 18 shots from Gotham FC in its home stadium in New Jersey to earn a 0-0 draw, which was the same result as last week’s home match against Angel City.
“I think that we’re on the same page,” center back Kaleigh Riehl said of the team’s defensive improvement. “We have a lot of pressure, support, balance, and then just kind of that grit in our own box of trying to get that shutout.”
Riehl missed the start of the season due to injury and returned to the team in mid-June. In the four games that she has started since then, the Royals have allowed just two total goals.
Utah goalkeeper Mandy McGlynn, who is still in the running to replace Alyssa Naeher as the next U.S. women’s national team starter, put up seven saves on seven Gotham shots on target to match her second-highest total of the season after saving a career-high 10 shots against the Washington Spirit, also on the road, in May.
Aisha Solorzano nearly had her first NWSL goal during first-half stoppage time in New Jersey, but hit the crossbar to keep the match deadlocked and her Utah scoring tally still at zero.
Speaking of scoring zero goals, the Royals have now gone three games in a row without scoring a goal and face two more road matches in Portland and North Carolina before returning to America First Field against Houston on Sunday, Sept. 14.
“I think we still are a little too rushed on the ball,” Janni Thomsen said. “I think in the final third, we are not sharp enough. I think we play forward too early and are taking maybe the wrong moments, sometimes, to go forward. I would like to see us sometimes keep the ball in the opponent’s half.”
Star striker Cloe Lacasse has yet to start a match for the Royals after returning from an ACL tear earlier this month, so more attacking opportunities could still be on the horizon for Utah.
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